Distributed remote sensing system component interface

ABSTRACT

A distributed remote sensing system comprising at least one gateway, at least one sensing device and a communication interface providing radio frequency communication through a predetermined shared variable frequency scheme between each sensing device, and at least one gateway and between each sensing device and another of at least one gateway through a different variable frequency scheme that is independent of the predetermined shared variable frequency scheme. Wherein the sensing device predeterminately pairs with one of the gateway and at least one other gateway and is configured so as to switch communications between the one gateway and another based on unavailability of either one gateway or the other gateway.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/844,230, filed Dec. 15, 2017, (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,937,317), whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/593,799, filedon May 12, 2017, (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,852,630), which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,024, filed on May 19, 2014,(now U.S. Pat. No. 9,652,987), which claims the benefit of and priorityfrom U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/824,609, filed on May17, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by referencein their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The exemplary embodiments generally relate to distributed remote sensingsystems and, more particularly, to distributed remote sensing systemshaving remote sensors for sensing a predetermined physicalcharacteristic.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Parking monitoring/detection systems have traditionally been used toraise revenue. Such devices have included a timer and a windingmechanism requiring coins. More recently, electronic meters have beendeveloped which include an electronic timer having an LCD timeindicator.

With the advent of electronic parking monitoring devices, attempts havebeen made to make the parking monitors interactive with vehicle trafficin the associated parking space. One way to obtain information aboutvehicle traffic at parking spaces is to couple the parking monitor to avehicle sensing device. The vehicle sensing device can detect when avehicle enters a parking space as well as when the vehicle leaves.Attempts have also been made to centralized vehicle parking spacemonitoring where data collected by the vehicle sensing devices isultimately transferred to a centralized monitoring location for analysisand application to user accounts.

Generally, the vehicle sensing devices and communication means betweenthe vehicle sensing devices and the centralized monitoring location mustbe powered. It may be prohibitive to provide hard lined power to eachvehicle sensing device and each communication means. As such, thevehicle sensing devices and communications means may have limited powersupplies. The parking monitoring system components are also subject tofailure and/or outages.

It would be advantageous to have a distributed remote sensing systemthat improves reliability through one or more redundancies in the systemas well as improve power management of the system components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the disclosed embodiment areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a portion of vehicle parking metersystem in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the vehicle parkingmeter system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the vehicle parkingmeter system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the vehicle parkingmeter system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a portion of a distributed remotesensing system in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment.The distributed remote sensing system may include remote sensors forsensing characteristics such as vehicle detection, traffic patterns,vehicle navigation, vehicle position or any suitable predeterminedcharacteristic. Although the aspects of the disclosed embodiment will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, it should be understood thatthe aspects of the disclosed embodiment can be embodied in many forms.In addition, any suitable size, shape or type of elements or materialscould be used.

In one aspect the distributed remote sensing system may be a vehicleparking meter/detection system 100 having a centralized controller thatmay provide at least monitoring and/or billing services for the use ofone or more vehicle parking spaces. In one aspect, the vehicle parkingmeter system 100 may include a central controller 101, one or moregateways 110A-110C, one or more sensing device groups 120-122 and one ormore peripheral devices 130-132 which may include any suitable displayfor displaying any suitable information pertaining to one or moreparking spaces. In other aspects the vehicle parking meter system mayinclude any suitable number and type of components to facilitate themonitoring of the vehicle parking spaces associated with the vehicleparking meter system 100. The central controller 101 may be any suitablecontroller capable of communicating with the one or more gateways110A-110C (and sensing devices in communication with the one or moregateways) and the one or more peripheral devices 130-132 using anysuitable wireless or wired communication interface link that extendsfrom the sensing devices to the central controller and from the centralcontroller to the peripheral devices (it is noted that the interface mayinclude a single communication protocol or a combination of differentcommunication protocols). In one aspect communication between at leastthe central controller 101 and one or more of the gateways 110A-110C (aswell as the sensing devices) and/or peripheral devices 130-132 may bethrough a cellular communication link 141, a satellite communicationlink 142, public switched telephone network 145, Internet/World Wide Web143, Ethernet 144, local area network or other suitable wireless orwired protocol or connection. In one aspect communications from thesensing devices in the sensing device groups 120-122 may be providedsubstantially in real time to the central controller 101 and/orperipheral devices 130-132.

The central controller 101 may include one or more processors, a memoryand any other suitable hardware/software configured to track and report,for each parking space being monitored, a user of the parking space,parking space assignments/allocations, time of arrival, time ofdeparture, transaction rates, user account monetary balances, billingtransactions, parking violations, parking space availability or anyother suitable information pertaining to the use and billing of eachparking space monitored by the vehicle parking meter system 100. Thecentral controller 101 may be configured with one or more userinterfaces to allow user access to and operation of the centralcontroller 101. In one aspect the central controller 101 may be anysuitable computing device having a monitor, keyboard and/or othersuitable user interface. In other aspects, one or more of the peripheraldevices 130-132 may provide a user interface for accessing and operatingthe central controller 101 either through any suitable long or shortrange wireless communication link and/or through a wired connection. Thecentral controller 101 may be configured to receive any suitable datafrom the sensing devices. The data sent from the sensing devices mayinclude or otherwise embody, for example, any suitable data related to aparking space being monitored, vehicle detection, and or a health andwelfare/maintenance status of the sensing device. In one aspect thecentral controller 101 may be configured to perform any suitableprocessing on the data from the sensing devices while in other aspectsthe data from the sensing devices may be configured, e.g. withoutprocessing by the central controller 101, for display on one or more ofthe peripheral devices.

In one aspect one or more of the peripheral devices 130-132 may include,for example, an enforcement unit which may be a hand held unit for useby parking/law enforcement personnel. The enforcement unit may beconfigured to report parking violations and/or the issuance of parkingtickets to the central controller 101 so that electronic ticketing anddata capture is integrated into the distributed remote sensing system.For example, a law enforcement officer using a peripheral device 130-132may arrive at a parking space after being notified of a violation andmake a visual inspection of the parking space to verify that there is avehicle in violation of a law. The violation may be entered into theperipheral device 130-132 and optionally pictures of the vehicle inviolation can be taken with the peripheral device or otherwise loadedinto the peripheral device. A citation may be generated in any suitablemanner, such as being printed from the peripheral device 130-132 andaffixed to the vehicle in any suitable manner. The enforcement unit mayalso report any other actions taken by, for example, the parkingenforcement personnel and/or any other suitable information to thecentral controller 101. As such, violation data entered into theperipheral device is automatically captured and stored in a memory, suchas a memory of the central controller 101 in substantially real time. Asmay be realized storing the violation information within the distributedremote sensing system stops the system from alerting an enforcementofficer to that space until another violation threshold is met or a newvehicle parks in the space. In another aspect, the sensing devices mayalso be used in non-parking spaces such as in front of fire hydrants,fire lanes, cross walks, intersections, etc. The distributed remotesensing system can be configured to create a violation after anysuitable predetermined time period whenever a vehicle is parked in oneof these non-parking spaces so that an alert is sent to an enforcementofficer through, for example, a peripheral device 130-132. As may berealized, the distributed remote sensing system may incorporate anyother suitable sensors such as cameras and infrared sensors that may beused in conjunction with the sensing devices of the sensor groups120-122. Information from the cameras and/or infrared sensors may beused in conjunction with the violation data provided by the sensingdevices of the sensor groups 120-122 to track violations and the historyof the violations. The violation history can be printed from, e.g., aperipheral device 130-132 for adjudication purposes, including parkingsensor time stamps of vehicle entry/exit from a parking space.

The one or more of the peripheral devices 130-132 may also include, forexample, a motorist unit which may be a handheld unit for use bymotorists accessing the parking spaces that are monitored by the vehicleparking meter system 100. In one aspect the motorist unit may be adedicated vehicle parking system hand held unit while in other aspectsthe motorist unit may be integrated into a user's wireless phone,vehicle GPS unit, or other user computing device such as through anapplication program capable of running on the wireless phone, GPS unitor other computing device. In still other aspects the motorist unit maybe implemented in any suitable manner for allowing the motorist to, forexample, check an account balance, add funds to the user's account,perform billing/violation payment transactions, find available parkingspaces or any other suitable action(s) such as reserving one or moreparking spaces for a predetermined time and date. The motorist unit mayprovide a motorist with way finding information, e.g. based on dataprovided by the sensing devices, that includes a substantially real timeview of the availability of parking (and routing thereto) throughout thedeployment area of the distributed remote sensing system. The motoristunit may be configured to allow a user to select a location and see howfull the parking spaces are in an area using, for example, color codedor other suitable indicators. Pricing to park in each parking space mayalso be provided. The way finding information provided by the motoristunit may also allow a user to keep track of where they park. In oneaspect the motorist unit may include or be used in conjunction with aglobal positioning system or other mapping data to provide a user withtraffic information related to the parking spaces so that the user canselect, for example a parking lot exit or street that is not congestedwith vehicles leaving parking spaces monitored by the distributed remotesensing system.

As noted above the central controller 101 may be connected to the one ormore gateways 110A-110C (and to the sensing devices) in any suitablemanner. In one aspect one or more communicators 140 may be used as acommunication link between the gateways 110A-110C and the centralcontroller 101. The one or more communication links 140 may include, forexample, one or more cell towers/providers in a cellular communicationnetwork. In other aspects the one or more communication links 140 mayinclude, for example, one or more satellites in a satellitecommunication network, a public switched telephone network,Internet/World Wide Web access points or any other suitablecommunication access points such as those used in the wired and/orwireless communication protocols described above. In still other aspectsthe one or more communication links 140 may be a combination of cellularand satellite communication or any other suitable wired or wirelesscommunication link.

Referring also to FIG. 2, each of the gateways 110A-110C may include anysuitable housing 299 having any suitable shape and size. In one aspectthe housing is weatherproof and may be UV (ultraviolet) ray resistant.The housing 299 may be constructed of any suitable material so that, inone aspect, radio frequencies are allowed to pass through the housing.Each gateway 110A-110C (generally referred to as gateway 110) mayinclude, e.g. within a respective housing, a processor module 200 (whichmay include any suitable memory and suitable programming and may beconfigured for performing the functions of the gateway as describedherein), GPS module 201, a clock module 204, a charge controller 205, apower supply module 202 and any suitable number of communication modules203, 208.

The GPS module 201 may be operably connected to the processor module 200and include any suitable antenna 209 for communicating with one or moreGPS satellites. The GPS module 201 may be configured to provide anysuitable data to the processor module including, but not limited tolocation/positioning data, date data and time data. The clock module 204may be operably connected to the processor module 200 and provide theprocessor module 200 with time data which may be periodically (or at anysuitable time(s)) updated by the processor module 200 using date and/ortime data obtained from the GPS module 201.

The charge controller 205 may be operably connected to the processormodule 200. One or more solar panels 207 may be disposed on, locatedremotely from or otherwise connected to the housing 299. In one aspect,the one or more solar panels 207 may be movable and configured in anysuitable manner to track one or more available light sources, such ase.g. the best light source, to optimize a recharge cycle of the one ormore power storage units 206. Here the one or more solar panels mayinclude any suitable motors and light sensors for effecting lighttracking movement of the one or more solar panels. As may be realized,the motors and light sensors may be connected to the processor module200 for any necessary calculations and control for effecting the lighttracking movements. In other aspects the solar panels 207 may include aprocessor for performing the necessary calculations to effect the lighttracking movement. The solar panels 207 may be operably connected to thecharge controller 205 for charging one or more rechargeable powerstorage units 206. In one aspect the gateway 110 may be configured tooperate substantially from power provided by the one or more solarpanels 207 during lighted conditions (e.g. during the day) andsubstantially from power provided by the one or more rechargeable powerstorage units 206 during unlighted or low light conditions (e.g. atnight, dusk, dawn, etc.). In other aspects the gateway 110 may beconfigured to operate from power provided by a combined output of theone or more solar panels 207 and the one or more power storage units206. In still other aspects the gateways may be powered with a hard linesuch as from a utility source and include suitable electronics forconverting the utility power to power that is usable by the gateway.

The power supply 202 may be operably connected to the processor unit 200and the one or more power storage units 206 to provide and manage powerfrom the one or more power storage units 206 and/or solar panels 207 forthe operation of the gateway 110. In one aspect, the power supply module202 may provide a charge status of the one or more power storage units206 to the processor module 200. The processor module 200 may beconfigured, e.g. when the charge status reaches a predeterminedthreshold or at any other suitable time, to effect operation of thecharge controller 205 so that power is transmitted from the one or moresolar panels 207 to the one or more power storage units 206 for chargingthe one or more power storage units 206. The power supply module 202 mayalso provide predictive maintenance that monitors, for example, thecharge cycles of the one or more power storage units 206. The processormodule 200 may be configured to determine or otherwise predict a life ofthe one or more power storage units 206 using data from, for example,the power supply module 202, such as a voltage/current curve of the oneor more solar panels 207 and/or the charge cycles of the one or morepower storage units 206. The processor module 200 may cause a message(including a status/life of the one or more power storage units 206) tobe sent from the gateway 110 to the central controller 101 forcommunication to any suitable operator/maintenance personnel of thevehicle parking meter system 100.

In one aspect the gateway 110 may include two communication modules 203,208. One of the communication modules 203 may be a “local” communicationmodule configured for, e.g., communication with respective sensingdevices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C over any suitable wirelessprotocol such as a cellular, satellite or other long or short rangecommunication protocol. Another of the communication modules 208 may bea “distant” communication module configured for, e.g., communicationwith the one or more communicators 140 using, for example, antenna 211as will be described in greater detail below. In other aspects, a singlecommunicator may be used to communicate with both the sensing devices120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C and the one or more communicators 140.

In one aspect any suitable antenna 210 may be connected to thecommunication module 203 for allowing any suitable radio frequencycommunication with the sensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C.The antenna 210 may be disposed within the housing 299, mounted to orremotely located from the housing 299. In one aspect the antenna 210 maybe a directional antenna that is rotatable/swivelable to point in thedirection of a sensing device 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C fortransmitting information to or receiving information from the sensingdevice 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C. The directional antenna mayimprove gains received by the gateway 110 by directing the antenna atthe sensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C. In one aspect theantenna 210 may be mounted on a rotatable mount and include any suitabledrive motor for rotating the antenna. The processor module 200 mayinclude a memory that is configured to store a directional orientationof the antenna 210 for each of the sensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C,122A-122C communicating with the gateway. This directional orientationfor each sensing device 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C may beestablished using a line of sight alignment while in other aspects thedirectional orientation may be substantially automatically establishedand/or fine-tuned using a signal strength of a sensing devicecommunication. For example, the processor unit 200 may use the antenna210 to monitor the signal strength of messages coming from the sensingdevices and adjust the directional orientation of the antenna 210 sothat a maximum or best possible signal strength is obtained and thedirectional orientation for the respective sensing device is stored inmemory. Adjustments to the directional orientation of the antenna 210may be made as necessary by the gateway 110. In one aspect, uponinstallation of a new or additional sensing device 120A-120C, 121A-121C,122A-122C the gateway 110 may be configured to automatically detect thenew or additional sensing device by sweeping the antenna 210 through theoperational area of the gateway and record the directional orientationof the antenna 210 for communicating with the new or additional sensingdevice based on the signal strength of a message transmitted from thatnew or additional sensing device. In other aspects the antenna 210 maybe an omnidirectional antenna.

Referring to FIG. 3 each sensing device 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122Cin the groups 120, 121, 122 of sensing devices may be substantiallysimilar to sensing device 400. In one aspect the sensing device 400 mayinclude any suitable housing 401. The housing 401 may have any suitableshape and be constructed of any suitable material so that in one aspectthe sensing device may be placed or otherwise embedded at least partlywithin the ground/roadway of a parking space (e.g. substantially belowor substantially even with or substantially above a driving surface ofthe parking space). In another aspect the housing 401 may be configuredfor placement above ground at any suitable location for sensing vehiclesin a respective parking space. The housing 401 may be configured tohouse components of the sensing device 400 such as a processor 402,memory 403 (which is suitably configured along with the processor 402 toeffect the operational aspects of the sensing devices as describedherein), sensor system clock 406, a sensor power system, a sensorcommunication system and any suitable vehicle detection sensors. In oneaspect the sensor power system may include a power supply and managementunit 404 that is connected to the processor 402. Any suitable powerstorage unit(s) 405 may be connected to the power supply and managementunit 404 for supplying power to the components of the sensing device400. The power supply and management unit 404 may be configured toregulate and distribute power from the power storage units 405 in anysuitable manner, such as under the control of the processor 402. Thesensor communication system may include a communication module 407(which may be any suitable radio frequency communication module)connected to the processor 402 and an associated antenna 408. Theantenna 408 may be any suitable antenna such as in one aspect anomnidirectional antenna and in another aspect a directional antenna.Where the antenna 408 is a directional antenna suitable motors or othersolid state or mechanical drive unit may be provided for swiveling orotherwise rotating the antenna so that a signal strength of a receivedor sent communication is maximized in a manner substantially similar tothat described above with respect to the gateway 110 (FIG. 2). Thevehicle detection sensors may be any suitable vehicle detection sensorsincluding but not limited to radar sensor(s) 409 and magnetometer(s)414. The magnetometer 414 and radar sensor 409 may be connected to theprocessor 402 in any suitable manner and be configured to sense avehicle individually (e.g. operate separately—the processor may useeither the radar sensor 409 or the magnetometer to sense the vehicle),in conjunction with each other (e.g. operate together), or according toany predetermined sequence of operation. For example, the radar sensor409 may be used to verify the sensing activity of the magnetometer 414or vice versa. As may be realized any suitable ancillary circuitry maybe provided to allow communication of one or more of the vehicle sensors409, 414 with the processor 402. For example, a digital to analogconvertor 412 and/or a gain control and signal compensation module 411may be provided for communications from the processor 402 to the radarsensor 409 while a signal conditioning module 410 and analog to digitalconvertor 413 may be provided for communication from the radar sensor409 to the processor 402.

Referring again to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, in operation, there may be groupsof gateways 300-302 each having one or more gateways 110A-110C, 310A-C,300D-310F where each gateway is in communication with the centralcontroller 101 through, for example, one or more communicators 140 whichin this aspect are cellular providers 140A, 140B, 140C. Using gatewaygroup 300 and associated sensing device groups 120-122 as an example,several levels of redundancy may be provided for communication withinthe vehicle parking meter system 100. As will be explained in greaterdetail below there may be one level of redundancy with respect tocommunication between the sensing devices within the sensing devicegroups 120-122 and the gateways 110A-110C. There may be another level ofredundancy between communications between the gateways 110A-110C and thecommunicators 140A-140C. There may also be a level of redundancy withrespect to communications from the sensing devices where sensing devicemessages are stored within a gateway 110A-110C when one or more gatewaysand the communicators 140A-140C are unavailable.

As noted above, each gateway 110A-110C may be paired with its own group120, 121, 122 of sensing devices. The sensing devices 120A-120C,121A-121C, 122A-122C may be any suitable sensing devices such as thosedescribed in United States Provisional Patent Applications having U.S.provisional patent application Nos. 61/824,512 and 61/824,630 filed onMay 17, 2013 (now United States non-Provisional Patent Applicationsrespectively having attorney docket numbers 1195P014931-US(PAR) and1195P014933-US(PAR) and filed on May 19, 2014), the disclosures of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. In one aspectthe sensing devices may detect the arrival and departure of vehicleswithin associated parking spaces. For example, as noted above, one ormore sensing devices may be located (e.g. such as embedded in the roadsurface or otherwise) in each parking space monitored by the vehicleparking meter system 100. Each gateway 110A-110C in the group ofgateways 300 may provide a redundancy for communication with the sensingdevice groups 120-122. In one aspect the gateways may be arranged orotherwise positioned throughout a deployment area of the vehicle parkingmeter system 100 so that each sensing device is capable of communicatingwith at least two gateways. As an example, gateway 110A may be paired asa primary gateway with sensing devices 120A-120C within sensing devicegroup 120 (e.g. that define a primary sensing device group for gateway110A) and paired as a secondary gateway with sensing devices withinsensing device groups 121, 122 (e.g. that define secondary sensingdevice groups for gateway 110A). Gateway 110B may be paired as a primarygateway with sensing devices 121A-121C within sensing device group 121(e.g. that define a primary sensing device group for gateway 110B) andpaired as a secondary gateway with the sensing devices of sensing devicegroups 120, 122 (e.g. that define secondary sensing device groups forgateway 110B). Gateway 110C may be paired as a primary gateway withsensing devices 122A-122C within sensing device group 122 (e.g. thatdefine a primary sensing device group for gateway 110C) and paired as asecondary gateway with sensing devices in sensing device groups 120, 121(e.g. that define secondary sensing device groups for gateway 110C).

It is noted that a primary gateway is the gateway given priority whencommunicating with a respective primary sensing device group. Secondarygateways are configured to communicate with their secondary sensingdevice groups when the primary gateway for those secondary sensingdevice groups is unavailable. In other words, each gateway 110A-110C inthe group of gateways 300 provides each sensing device in each primarysensing device group with a redundant gateway (e.g. if one of thegateways 110A-110C in the group of gateways 300 is unavailable the othergateways 110A-110C within that group of gateways are configured to allowcommunication with the sensing devices associated with the unavailablegateway). For example, if gateway 110A is unavailable, either one ofgateway 110B or gateway 110C allows communication with the sensingdevices of sensing device group 120. Each gateway 110A-110C within thegroup may be prioritized with each other with respect to the redundantcommunication. The prioritization for communication with a sensingdevice within a sensing device group 120-122 with a secondary gateway(e.g. which secondary gateway is chosen for communication and in whatsequence) may be based on a proximity of a secondary gateway to theprimary sensing device group for the unavailable gateway (e.g. so thatthe least amount of power is used by the sensing devices whencommunicating with the secondary gateway) or based on any other suitablecriteria. In one aspect the gateways 110A-110C are configured to listenfor messages from the sensing devices (e.g. primary sensing devices,secondary sensing devices or both) and when a message is received from asensing device that message is acknowledged by the gateway so that thereis an indication sent back to the sensing device that the message wasreceived by the gateway. If the sensing device does not receive anacknowledgement message the sensing device then proceeds to communicatewith each of the secondary gateways according to the gatewayprioritization until an operational gateway acknowledges the sensingdevice message.

In one aspect the gateways 110A-110C may be able to communicate witheach other and provide health and welfare messages to each otherregarding an operational state of the gateway. If one gateway receives amessage from another gateway that it is unavailable for communicationwith its primary sensing device group the gateway receiving that messagemay listen for messages from the primary sensing device group for theunavailable gateway. The health and welfare message may also be sent tothe central controller 200 for system management and monitoring whereany unavailability in the system may be addressed by maintenancepersonnel.

As noted above and still referring to FIG. 4, each gateway may also beconfigured to communicate with the central controller 101 (FIG. 1)through one or more communicators 140A-140C which in this aspect may becellular providers. Cellular provider as used herein may refer to acellular network access point and/or cellular carrier. In other aspectsany suitable communication protocols may be used as mentioned above,where each form of communication has one or more access points availableto the gateway groups 300-302. In still other aspects each gateway maybe connected to one or more communicators 140A-140C over differentcommunication protocols. For example, gateways in group 300 may beconnected to communicator 140A over a cellular connection, connected tocommunicator 140B over a public switched telephone network and connectedto communicator 140C over a network connection such as the World WideWeb. Each gateway group 300-302 may be associated or otherwise pairedwith a predetermined (e.g. a primary) one of the communicators140A-140C. For example, the pairing between the communicators 140A-140Cand each group of gateways 300-301 may be based on, for example,proximity (e.g. so the least amount of power may be used forcommunication) between each group of gateways and the cellular provideror any other suitable criteria. As may be realized, one communicator140A-140C may serve as a primary cellular provider for more than onegateway group. Still using gateway group 300 as an example, each gateway110A-110C may be capable of communicating with at least two cellularproviders to provide another level of redundancy in the vehicle parkingmeter system 100. As an example, referring to FIG. 4, if a gateway110A-110C in sensing device group 300 is paired with communicator 140Aas a primary communicator and with one or more of the communicators140B, 140C as secondary communicators (FIG. 5, Block 500) which may beprioritized for access in a manner similar to that described above withrespect to the gateway access by the sensing devices (e.g. based onproximity so that the gateway chooses the closest available cellularprovider so that the lowest power is used by the gateway forcommunication with the cellular provider, preference of communicationprotocol—e.g. wired or wireless, etc.). In one aspect, the gateways110A-110C may be configured to determine the proximity of eachcommunicator 140A-140C to the gateway 110A-110C and communicate with theclosest available communicator 140A-140C to effect power consumptionefficiency of the gateway 110A-110C. Preference may be given to thecommunicator 140A by the gateway 110A-110C when communicating with thecentral controller 101. If the communicator 140A is unavailable thegateway 110A-110C may switch communications to communicate with asecondary communicator 140B, 140C according to any suitablepredetermined priority of the secondary cellular providers until anavailable provider is found (FIG. 5, Block 510) (e.g. the gateway maylook for the best communication between the gateway and a communicator).As may be realized the gateway may be configured to receive anacknowledgment message from the communicator 140A-140C and if thatacknowledgement message is not received the gateway 110A-110C may thenproceed to communicate with the other cellular providers.

In another aspect the gateway 110A-110C may not switch communicators140A-140C if its primary communicator becomes unavailable where thegateway 110A-110C is configured to wait to re-establish communicationwith its primary communicator 140A-140C (FIG. 5, Block 520). In oneaspect the gateway 110A-110C may be configured to wait a predeterminedlength of time before switching between communicators 140A-140C. Here,there may be a level of redundancy with respect to communications fromthe sensing devices where sensing device messages are stored within agateway 110A-110C one or more communicators 140A-140C are unavailable.In one aspect, using gateway 110A as an example, gateway 110A mayestablish communication with communicator 140A (which may be the primarycommunicator for gateway 110A). If the communicator 140A becomesunavailable the gateway may store messages from the one or more of thesensing device groups 120-122 (e.g. primary sensing devices and/orsecondary sensing devices) within a memory of the gateway 110A (FIG. 5,Block 530). The gateway may monitor the availability of the primarycommunicator 140A and transmit the stored messages when the gateway 110Are-establishes communication with the primary communicator 140A. Eachmessage stored by the gateway 110A is given a time stamp indicating whenthe message was received by the gateway 110A so that, for example, thearrival, departure, violation, and other messages from the sensingdevices can be accurately tracked and applied to user accounts by thecentral controller 101. When communication is re-established with thecommunicator 140A the gateway 110A transmits the message with the timestamp to allow the central controller 101 to monitor the activity of thecorresponding parking spaces (FIG. 5, Block 540). Where one or moregateways 110A-110C are unavailable and communication with thecommunicators 140A-140C cannot be established the sensing devices willcommunicate with the primary and secondary gateways 110A-110C until anavailable gateway (e.g. referred to herein as a store forward gateway)is found. In this case only the store forward gateway will store thetime stamped messages until communication is re-established with eitheranother gateway or at least one of the communicators 140A-140C (FIG. 5,Block 550). In one aspect if the messages are stored in a secondarygateway and communication is re-established with the primary (or otheroptimal) gateway the secondary gateway may transfer the messages (FIG.5, Block 560) to the primary gateway for transmission to the centralcontroller 101. If the communicators are unavailable after the transferof the messages to the primary gateway the primary gateway may store themessages until communication is re-established with the communicators.In another aspect, the secondary gateway may transfer the messages tothe central controller when communication is re-established with one ormore the communicators 140A-140C. In still another aspect if there areno available gateways 110A-110C the sensing devices 120A-120C,121A-121C, 122A-122C time stamp and store the messages and send tostored messages when one or more gateways re-establishes communicationwith the sensing devices.

In a manner similar to that described above between the gateways110A-110C and the communicators 140A-140C, the sensing devices 400 (FIG.3) are paired with a primary gateway and at least one secondary gateway(FIG. 6, Block 600), e.g. in a respective gateway group or in anothergateway group, in any suitable manner. For example, the sensing devices400 may be configured to automatically determine which gateway is to bethe primary gateway based on any suitable criteria, such as for example,a communication signal strength between the sensing device and gatewayand/or a distance between the sensing device and gateway (e.g. based onGPS information provided by the gateway). In other aspects the primarygateway may be manually selected in any suitable manner, such as throughline of sight. The sensing device 400 may be configured to switchcommunications from the primary gateway to a secondary gateway (FIG. 6,Block 610) when communication between the primary gateway and one ormore communicators is unavailable and/or when the primary gateway isunavailable or when communications with the primary gateway are crowded.For example, referring to FIG. 4, the sensing devices 122A-122C insensor group 122 may be paired with one of the gateways 110A-110C as aprimary gateway and be paired with other ones of gateways 110A-110Cand/or gateways 310A-310E of gateway groups 301, 302 as secondarygateways. Selection of a secondary gateway by the sensing device 400 canbe based on any suitable priority or criteria similar to that describedabove with respect to the gateways selecting secondary communicators(e.g. the sensing device may look for the best communication between thesensing device and the gateway). In other aspects where there are nogateways available the sensing devices 400 may be configured to timestamp and store any suitable parking data in the memory 403 (FIG. 6,Block 620) and transmit the stored data when communication a gateway 110is re-established (FIG. 6, Block 630).

In one aspect each gateway 110A-110C communicates with their respectivesensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C over any suitable wiredor wireless communication interface (that e.g. may be substantiallysimilar to that described above between the gateways and thecommunicators) in a time division duplexing (TDD) manner using a pseudorandom channel sequence. For example, the sensing devices 400 mayinitiate a message (e.g. that includes data embodying a status of aparking space being monitored and/or a health and maintenance status ofthe sensing device) that requires or otherwise results in a responsefrom a gateway 110 (either primary or secondary gateway), and “sleeps”or otherwise removes itself from active engagement with the gateway 110until the sensing device 400 determines that it is time to ready itselffor communication with the gateway 110. In one aspect the gateway 110and the sensing device 400 may communicate over a wireless communicationlink where the transmission of messages and responses can be sent overany of a plurality of available transmission frequencies. Frequencyhopping is used to the extent that transmissions of information andreceptions of communicated information take place according to sequencesof communication frequencies. In a frequency hopping system, thecommunication frequencies do not remain constant, but rather are changedover time and/or in connection with triggering events in order tocontinually change the frequency in which information is communicated.

In one aspect, at least one frequency hopping sequence is shared andsubstantially synchronized between the sensing devices 400 and thegateways 110. In a frequency hopping system, response timing andcoordination is not a trivial consideration. Responses to messages maynot be formulated at the gateway 110 at any specific time, but ratherresponse formulation can be completed at any time relative to thecurrently active frequency in the frequency hopping sequence. Thus, thesensing device 400 may not be able to expect to receive a response atsome certain time. If the sensing device 400 listened for a response(s)at every frequency of the frequency hopping sequence, the sensing device400 would need to continually attempt to receive and processinformation. Such continual monitoring requires, among other things,significant processing resources and involves significant powerconsumption. This is particularly troublesome where the sensing device400 is battery powered, as valuable limited power resources may beunnecessarily wasted.

The sensing device 400 and gateway 110 share a frequency hoppingsequence. For example, each of the sensing device 400 and gateway 110may synchronously step through each of the frequencies of the frequencyhopping sequence to know which frequency is active for communications ata given time. Any manner of synchronizing such a shared frequencyhopping sequence(s) may be used. In normal operation the frequencies ofthe frequency hopping sequence may be considered to recycle in acontinuous loop.

In one embodiment, the active frequency in which a message is to betransmitted by the sensing device 400 is determined by for example, theprocessor 402 (FIG. 4). For example, the processor 402 may store orotherwise access the frequency hopping sequence, and may also store thelast transmission frequency that was used to send a message. By knowingthe sequence and the last used transmission frequency, the sensingdevice 400 can readily identify the next transmission frequency to usein the frequency hopping sequence. In aspects, the frequency that iscurrently active, or active at some future time (e.g. the frequencyafter the currently active frequency), may be used to transmit themessage. In still other aspects, any manner of determining a frequencyin which to transmit the message may be used.

Not only may the frequency hopping sequence be used to determine atwhich frequency messages will be transmitted, in one aspect it may beused to monitor for incoming messages. For example, the sensing devices400 may know which frequency to monitor, and at what time and/or forwhat duration. The processor 402 may be used to determine when each ofthe frequencies in the frequency hopping sequence is to become theactive frequency in which to monitor for incoming signals (e.g. responsesignals) from, for example the gateway 110. In one aspect, the processor402 may determine when the same frequency at which the message wastransmitted will reoccur in the frequency hopping sequence. As anexample, the processor 402 may calculate a time duration based on atleast the number of frequencies in the frequency hopping sequence, theorder (sequence) of the frequencies, and a time slot duration in whicheach of the frequencies is active, until the same frequency used totransmit the message arises again in the sequence. In one aspect theprocessor 402 may use the clock 406 to count out the calculated timeduration to know when the frequency will again become active in thesequence.

In one aspect the processor 402 can be configured to cause one or morefunctional components 403-414 to enter a sleep mode during thecalculated time interim between occurrences of the relevant frequency.In one aspect the sensing devices 400 enter a sleep mode aftertransmitting a respective message. This may occur immediately followingmessage transmission, or after some other event(s) such as receiving amessage acknowledgement or at any suitable time after receiving orsending a message. The sleep mode may involve reducing and/or suspendingone or more functional operations and/or device components to conservelocal resources such as processing power, battery power, etc. Forexample, to conserve power, in one aspect the sensing devices 400 mayenter a sleep mode after sending a message and receiving a messageacknowledgement from a gateway 110. In another aspect, entering such asleep mode after transmitting a message to a gateway 110 withoutreceiving a response from the gateway as the response from the gateway110 may not be immediately provided such as when the gateway isunavailable.

In one aspect, each gateway 110A-110C may transmit continuously usingTDD and may be capable of changing communication channels/frequencies(it is noted that the terms channel and frequency are usedinterchangeably herein) according to a predetermined channel/frequencyswitching/hopping scheme (e.g. channel hopping as described above). Itis noted that each gateway may have a respective channel/frequencyswitching scheme that is different from the channel/frequency switchingscheme of other gateways. The gateway 110 may hop between any suitablenumber of frequencies when communicating with the sensing devices 400over any suitable frequency band. In one aspect, as an example, thegateway 110 may hop between 50 frequencies over a frequency band of 902Mhz to 928 Mhz while in other aspects the number of frequencies may bemore or less than 50 and the frequency band may be higher or lower than902 Mhz to 928 Mhz. In one aspect with each channel change, an outgoingmessage is transmitted by the gateway 110A-110C and then the gateway110A-110C listens for response messages from the respective sensingdevices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C. As such, at any given time thegateway 110A-110C is communicating with each of the respective (e.g.primary and secondary) sensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122Cover a common communication channel. In one aspect the channel ratechange may be, for example, approximately 100 mSec and the outgoingmessage from the gateway 110A-110C may use approximately 40% of thechannel communication window allowing for long sensing device responsetimes. In other aspects the channel rate change may be any suitable timeinterval (e.g. more or less than 100 mSec) and the outgoing message mayuse any suitable percentage of the channel communication window. Theprocessor module 200 (FIG. 2) of each gateway 110A-110C may beconfigured with any suitable number of channel hopping sequences such asfor example, 256 channel hopping sequences. Each gateway may also beassigned any suitable address identifier such as, for example, a 16 bitaddress identifier that is unique to each gateway 110A-110C. Eachgateway 110A-110C may be configured to broadcast its unique addressidentifier in, for example, the outgoing message so that the sensingdevices may listen for the address identifier and determine whichgateway 110A-110C they can communicate with. Once communication isestablished between the gateway 110A-110C and the respective sensingdevice(s) 120A-120C, 121A-121C, 122A-122C predetermined parameters ofthe gateway (such as, e.g., the address identifier and channel hoppingsequence) that are needed by the sensing devices for communication withthe gateway may be updated at any suitable time such as on an as neededbasis or at any suitable predetermined time frequency.

In one aspect the gateway 110A-110C may be configured for adaptivechannel/frequency hopping so that a channel is changed and/or avoidedwhen, for example, an error rate for particular channels exceeds apredetermined error rate threshold. As an example, if there is afrequency jam or other error the gateway is configured to select a newchannel/frequency to be used in the hopping sequence. It is noted thatin one aspect all of the gateways in a gateway group transmit messagessubstantially at the same time and listen for messages from the sensingdevices substantially at the same time to, for example, reduce apossibility of self jamming. In other aspects any number of the gatewaysin the distributed remote sensing system may transmit at substantiallythe same time and listen substantially at the same time to, for example,reduce a possibility of self jamming. Similarly it is noted that anysuitable number of sensing devices 400 may communicate with the gatewaysat substantially the same time. The gateway 110A-110C may send a “nexthop index” message in every time slot of the outgoing message such that,when compared to a hop index of the sensing devices 120A-120C,121A-121C, 122A-122C, the next channel being “hopped to” should match inboth the gateway hop sequence index and a sensing device hop sequenceindex. In one aspect several spare channels known to both the gateway110A-110C and their respective sensing devices 120A-120C, 121A-121C,122A-122C may be available. The gateway 110A-110C may be configured todynamically direct the sensing devices to select the spare channel, ifthat spare channel is a valid spare for the particular channel hoppingsequence.

In one aspect, as noted above, the sensing devices 400 may be configuredto sleep or otherwise deactivate one or more components to, for example,conserve power. As may be realized, when communicating with the pseudorandom channel sequence the frequencies of the sensing devices 400 andthe gateways 110 must match for communication to occur between the two.In one aspect, a sensing device 400 may sleep for a predetermined periodof time (FIG. 7, Block 700) and when the sensing device 400 wakes up itmust synchronize with the hopping frequency of the gateway 110. Here thesensing device 400 is configured to track the period of time the sensingdevice has been asleep (e.g. the sleep time) in any suitable manner suchas by using, e.g., the sensor system clock 406 (FIG. 7, Block 710) andis configured upon waking to look forward an amount of timesubstantially equal to the sleep time, e.g. to compensate for the sleeptime, (FIG. 7, Block 720) so that the frequencies of the sensing device400 and the gateway 110 are synchronized for communication (e.g. thesensing device picks the active frequency of the channel hoppingsequence upon waking from sleep) substantially immediately upon wakingso that real time data may be provided by the sensing device 400 (FIG.7, Block 730). In one aspect to facilitate the frequency synchronizationthe frequency hopping scheme of one or more gateways 110 may be storedwithin, for example, the memory 403 of the sensing devices 400. In oneaspect the frequency hopping scheme and/or sensor system clock may beupdated and in the case of the clock 406 synchronized with the clock 204of the gateway at any suitable time intervals when communication isestablished between the primary and/or secondary gateways and thesensing devices. In one aspect the sensor system clock 406 may besynchronized with the gateway clock 204 at every transmission from thegateway (e.g. a current time of the gateway is sent to the sensingdevices substantially every time the gateway sends a transmission to thesensing devices).

In one aspect the interface between the gateways 110 and the respectivesensing devices 400 may allow for a remote change in configurationand/or updating of any suitable predetermined characteristic of thesensing devices 400. In one aspect the predetermined characteristic mayinclude a firmware version, one or more of a frequency hopping sequencefor the communication interface, days of sensing device operation, hoursof sensing device operation, a radar sensor strength, a magnetometersensitivity, and a magnetometer calibration. As may be realized theconfiguration updates of each sensing device 400 may be effected from,for example, the central controller 101 (FIG. 1) in any suitable mannersuch as automatically or initiated by a user of the central controller.The communication interface between the sensors 400 and the gateways 110also allows health and welfare signals to be shared between the gatewaysand sensing devices. In one aspect the sensing devices 400 may send ahealth and welfare message to a respective gateway at any suitablepredetermined time intervals. For example, in one aspect the health andwelfare messages may be sent substantially every 30 minutes while inother aspects the health and welfare messages may be sent at intervalsthat are less than or greater than 30 minutes. In still another aspectthe health and welfare message may also include an occupancy status of arespective parking space being monitored by the sensing device 400.Where the sensing device is in high traffic areas and a high number ofoccupancy transitions within the respective parking space are keepingthe sensing device 400 from sleeping the sensing device 400 may beconfigured to turn itself off (e.g. go to sleep) to conserve power. Thegateways 110 may also send health and welfare messages to the respectivesensing devices 400 so that the sensing devices 400 may switch to asecondary gateway if the primary gateway is not capable of transmittingmessages from the sensing devices to the central controller 101 (FIG.1).

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment adistributed remote sensing system is provided. The distributed remotesensing system includes at least one gateway, at least one sensingdevice and a communication interface providing radio frequencycommunication through a shared frequency scheme between each sensingdevice and one of the at least one gateway and between each sensingdevice and another of the at least one gateway through a differentfrequency scheme.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system comprises a parking monitoring system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecommunication interface further provides communication between the atleast one gateway and a peripheral device.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment,communication between the at least one gateway and the peripheral deviceis through a central controller.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, theperipheral device is a handheld device and the central controllerprovides parking space information on a display of the peripheraldevice.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system includes a controller configured toprocess data from the at least one sensing device.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one sensing device is configured to switch communication fromthe one of the at least one gateway to the another of the at least onegateway in response to an attribute of a communication with the one ofthe at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one sensing device is configured to initiate the switch incommunication from the one of the at least one gateway to the another ofthe at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theanother of the at least one gateway has a frequency hopping schemeshared with the at least one sensing device.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one sensing device selects a frequency of the frequency hoppingscheme corresponding to a time of switching from the one of the at leastone gateway to the another of the at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment adistributed remote sensing system is provided. The distributed remotesensing system includes at least one gateway, at least one sensingdevice and a communication interface providing radio frequencycommunication through a shared frequency scheme between each sensingdevice and one of the at least one gateway and between each sensingdevice and another of the at least one gateway through a differentfrequency scheme where the communication interface is configured foradaptive change in response to an attribute of a communication betweenthe at least one sensing device and the at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system comprises a parking monitoring system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system includes a controller configured toprocess data from the at least one sensing device.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one sensing device is configured to switch communication fromthe one of the at least one gateway to the another of the at least onegateway in response to an attribute of a communication with the one ofthe at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one sensing device is configured to initiate the switch incommunication from the one of the at least one gateway to the another ofthe at least one gateway.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment adistributed remote sensing system is provided. The distributed remotesensing system includes at least one gateway, at least one sensingdevice and a communication interface providing radio frequencycommunication through a shared frequency scheme between each sensingdevice and one of the at least one gateway and between each sensingdevice and another of the at least one gateway through a differentfrequency scheme where the communication interface is configured toallow configuration of a predetermined characteristic of each sensingdevice over the communication interface.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system comprises a parking monitoring system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thedistributed remote sensing system includes a controller configured toprocess data from the at least one sensing device.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thepredetermined characteristic of each sensing device includes one or moreof a frequency hopping sequence for the communication interface,firmware version, days of sensing device operation, hours of sensingdevice operation, a radar sensor strength, a magnetometer sensitivity,and a magnetometer calibration.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the aspects of the disclosed embodiment. Variousalternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in theart without departing from the aspects of the disclosed embodiment.Accordingly, the aspects of the disclosed embodiment are intended toembrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances that fallwithin the scope of the appended claims. Further, the mere fact thatdifferent features are recited in mutually different dependent orindependent claims does not indicate that a combination of thesefeatures cannot be advantageously used, such a combination remainingwithin the scope of the aspects of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A distributed remote sensing system comprising:at least one gateway; at least one sensing device; and a communicationinterface providing radio frequency communication through apredetermined shared variable frequency scheme between each sensingdevice and one of the at least one gateway and between each sensingdevice and another of the at least one gateway through a differentvariable frequency scheme that is independent of the predeterminedshared variable frequency scheme, wherein the at least one sensingdevice predeterminately pairs with the one of the at least one gatewayand the another of the at least one gateway and is configured so as toswitch communications between the one of the least one gateway and theanother of the at least one gateway based on unavailability of at leastone of either the one of the at least one gateway and the another of theat least one gateway.
 2. The distributed remote sensing system of claim1, wherein the at least one sensing device is further configured tostore a time stamp data at the at least one sensing device based on bothof the one of the at least one gateway and the another of the at leastone gateway being unavailable.
 3. The distributed remote sensing systemof claim 2, wherein the at least one sensing device transmits the timestamp data when either of the one of the at least one gateway and theanother of the at least one gateway becomes available.
 4. Thedistributed remote sensing system of claim 1, wherein the distributedremote sensing system comprises a parking monitoring system.
 5. Thedistributed remote sensing system of claim 1, wherein the communicationinterface further provides communication between the at least onegateway and a peripheral device.
 6. The distributed remote sensingsystem of claim 5, wherein communication between the at least onegateway and the peripheral device is through a central controller. 7.The distributed remote sensing system of claim 1, wherein the at leastone sensing device is configured to switch communication from the one ofthe at least one gateway to the another of the at least one gateway inresponse to an attribute of a communication with the one of the at leastone gateway.
 8. The distributed remote sensing system of claim 7,wherein the at least one sensing device is configured to initiate theswitch in communication from the one of the at least one gateway to theanother of the at least one gateway.
 9. The distributed remote sensingsystem of claim 7, wherein the another of the at least one gateway has afrequency hopping scheme shared with the at least one sensing device.10. The distributed remote sensing system of claim 9, wherein the atleast one sensing device selects a frequency of the frequency hoppingscheme corresponding to a time of switching from the one of the at leastone gateway to the another of the at least one gateway.
 11. Adistributed remote sensing system comprising: at least one gateway; atleast one sensing device; and a communication interface providing radiofrequency communication through a predetermined shared variablefrequency scheme between each sensing device and one of the at least onegateway and between each sensing device and another of the at least onegateway through a different variable frequency scheme that isindependent of the predetermined shared variable frequency scheme,wherein the at least one sensing device predeterminately pairs with theone of the at least one gateway and the another of the at least onegateway and is configured so as to store a time stamp data at the atleast one sensing device based on both of the one of the at least onegateway and the another of the at least one gateway being unavailable.12. The distributed remote sensing system of claim 11, wherein the atleast one sensing device is further configured so as to switchcommunications between the one of the least one gateway and the anotherof the at least one gateway based on a predetermined length of time ofunavailability of at least one of either the one of the at least onegateway and the another of the at least one gateway.
 13. The distributedremote sensing system of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensingdevice transmits the time stamp data when either of the one of the atleast one gateway and the another of the at least one gateway becomesavailable.
 14. The distributed remote sensing system of claim 11,wherein the communication interface further provides communicationbetween the at least one gateway and a peripheral device.
 15. Thedistributed remote sensing system of claim 14, wherein communicationbetween the at least one gateway and the peripheral device is through acentral controller.
 16. The distributed remote sensing system of claim15, wherein the peripheral device is a handheld device and the centralcontroller provides parking space information on a display of theperipheral device.
 17. The distributed remote sensing system of claim11, further comprising a controller configured to process data from theat least one sensing device.
 18. A method comprising: providing at leastone gateway; providing at least one sensing device; providing, with acommunication interface, radio frequency communication through apredetermined shared variable frequency scheme between each sensingdevice and one of the at least one gateway and between each sensingdevice and another of the at least one gateway through a differentvariable frequency scheme; and predeterminately pairing, via thecommunication interface, each sensing device with the predeterminedshared variable frequency scheme corresponding to each sensing devicefrom different variable frequency schemes of the communication interfaceand the at least one sensing device.
 19. The method of claim 18, furthercomprising switching communications between the one of the least onegateway and the another of the at least one gateway based onunavailability of at least one of either the one of the at least onegateway and the another of the at least one gateway.
 20. The method ofclaim 18, further comprising storing a time stamp data at the at leastone sensing device based on both of the one of the at least one gatewayand the another of the at least one gateway being unavailable.